105 



fermentation must be strong, and should not be stopped until the cream 

 has become thick and shows a peculiar granular appearance, developing 

 the pleasant aroma of good butter. This is the time for churning The 

 cream should be of a temperature somewhere between 50° Fah. and 70° 

 Fah , usually between 55' Fah. and 60° Fah. The milk from fresh cows 

 does not require so high a temperature as that from cows about to go 

 dry. It is better to churn at a low temperature, as the grain of the but- 

 ter will be better preserved. If the butter fails to come within half an 

 hour the temperature is not high enough ; and in obstinate cases it is 

 better to allow the cream to stand until next morning, after warming 

 it to 5° Fah. or 6° Fah. higher. A stick with a deep furrow in it is in- 

 serted on one side of the churn through a hole in the lid, and is lifted 

 from time to time to show the size of the granules of butter ; when they 

 are the size of small peas the churn is stopped, else the grain of the 

 butter would be injured. After a small quantity of cold water has been 

 thrown inside the lid and down the sides, the dasher is started again 

 slowly until the butter has sufficiently gathered. In many places they 

 are careful to use water that has been boiled and quickly reduced to 

 about 60° Fah., for washing down the sides of the churn, so as to avoid 

 contaminating the butter with any harmful bacteria the water might 

 have contained The butter is next gathered in a sieve — usually of fiae 

 hair — and put into a tub, and the butter milk is run through a strainer 

 to collect any butter yet remaining in it. In but very few dairies is the 

 butter touched with the hand ; but at any rate, if the hand is used, it 

 should be clean and cooled in water. The butter-worker is generally 

 used, all implements and utensils being first washed in boiling water 

 and then in clean cool water. The amount of salt added varies from 4 

 per cent to 5 per cent of the weight of the butter, as may be required 

 in the particular market where it is to be sold. The butter is then placed 

 in the butter-cooler, unless it be the cold season. After the salt has dis- 

 solved and penetrated the whole mass, and the butter attains the pro- 

 per degree of firmness, it is again put under the butter-worker to work 

 out the last of the butter milk and a portion of the brine formed from 

 the salt. Frequently the butter receives another working one or two 

 hours later, but care is taken not to overwork it, and thus make it 

 greasy. 



The churn used in Denmark is like our old upright, truncated barrel 

 churn, but suspended by pivots near the centre of gravity, resting on 

 upright posts, so that it can be easily tilted to any angle The cream is 

 churned by a revolving agitator of wood, and sometimes three or four 

 cleats are nailed to the inside of the churn to break the rotary motion. 

 The butter-cooler is used everywhere during warm weather, except 

 in a few very small dairies. This is a box made of wood or zinc, con- 

 taining one or more cleats inside, and slats are laid across these, upon 

 which the butter is placed, sometimes rolled into the form of an arch, 

 from the butter-worker, and remains there until it can be worked up. 

 On the lid of the box is placed a layer of broken ice, and the ice water 

 runs to the bottom of the box. 



The Danish butter is always packed in barrels by means of a wooden 

 mallet. Generally they contain 112 lb., and are manufactured on the 

 farms from staves of beech held together by wooden hoops. After they 

 have been scrubbed in scalding water they are filled with clean cold 



